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Xylvania
Xylvania Xylvania is a nation-state in the battalion war series, extremely roughly based on the World War I era German Empire. German Empire Basis "Kaiser" was the WWI German Emperor's title, "Kaiser" Literaly "Emperor". In Battalion Wars, Kaiser Vlad is the leader of Xylvania. Ubel, had referred to Vlad as "Herr Kaiser" ("Herr" being german for "Mr" or "Sir"). Countess Ingrid was often referred to as "Fräulein"(="Young Woman", "Misses") Ingrid. The Xylvanian war machinery as well as the uniforms are more or less styled after Imperial- or Nazi-Germany. As well, military "habitudes" of Xylvania are a satirical interpretation of imperial and nazi Germany warfare. Very often Xylvanian leaders use the tactics of unexpected invasions and pre-emptive strikes and break treaties and alliances at will. History Long Ago, The Iron Legion, or Old Xylvania, led by Lord Ferrok, attempted to conquer the world, but was stopped by The Solar Empire. Kiaser Vlad twice attempted to lead modern Xylvania to conquer the world, claiming it was "Xylvania's Destiny". Non-Humanity (Speculation) Quote General Hermann when first encountering Kommandant Ubel: "Wow, I've heard these Xers are ugly, but this one WINS THE CANE!" The Major Xylvanian characters (Vlad, Ubel, Ect.) Do not appear fully human. As some put it, they are "Nazi-Vampires", this claim can be backed up by the cutscene form the first game, where Vald served Tsar Gorgi a drink resembling Human Blood. Is this a comical reference to the "Blood-and-soil" ideology of the Nazis, and the fact that Germans liked to portray jews as vampires while it was German Imperialism who proved to be quite "bloodthirsty" in the first half of the 20th century? Also, most Xylvanian unit appear to be zombie- or ghoul-like creatures (if you look closer in the unit dossier), for example they have black eye-holes instead of eyeballs. Instead of wearing gloves, the xylvanian veterans have exposed arms showing their pale flesh and hands with long filthy fingers and claws. Their skin in general is of an really "unhealthy" color. The Xylvanian Grunts wear gasmasks; while this is hiding their (probably not that pretty) faces, it makes them look like insects or robots, which is an echo to the way nazi soldiers are often protrayed. It's fun to consider that this is a way to ridicule the 'Uebermensch'(=superhuman)-fantasm of the Nazis. This "mutated" appearence can probably be explained by the horrible pollution of Xylvania. However, one could argue that this may be an very obvious way of de-huminization, making them to appear as monsters, drawing a very black/white picture in which Xylvania (Germany?) can serve as a filthy scape goat (notice that in the end all nations form and alliance to crush Xylvania to restore freedom and peace to the world). Finally, the Xlyvanians appear to have no civil structures, no villages, no towns, while repeatedly invading others. In the final Vladstag battle in BWI, only the castle of Kaiser Vlad appears, to make sure they reall look like "army-only". Of course, all of this is part of the satirical style of Battalion Wars (while mixing severeal events and periods of the 20th), since the game doesn't take itself too serious. Still, it might be interesting to note that Kuju Entertainment is a british enterprise. Trivia -In the Western Frontier Xylvanian citizens or reffered to as Xers, this re-enforced the frontier's American-sterotype as, in World War 2 Americans called Japanese citizens "Japs" -The "Sword of Honor", symbol of the Xylvanian forces, is an obvious imitation of the German Iron Cross. -In the original project, Combat Zeppelines were supposed to be an integral part of the Xylvanian Air forces, since it is another rather comical stereotype to associate these vulnerable and uneffective yet impressive airships with the German Empire and later with the Nazis. -The main color used in Xylvanian uniforms is dark blue, possibly as a reference to the Prussian military tradition. -It's clear that Kommandant Ubel was originally supposed to be called "Kommandant Übel" ('übel' being german for 'filhty'), but for simplification the dots were removed. -The Vladstag, Castle of Kaiser Vlad and thus governement building of the Xylvanian Reich is a reference to the Reichstag (lit. "Imperial-Day", "Conference Centre of the Empire")of the German Empire and later the Bundestag (lit. "Federal-Day", "Federal-Conference-Centre") of modern Germany. As a matter of fact, Xylvania is full of references both in vocabulary and actions to (recent) German History. -Kaiser Vlad and his underlings "disappear" after every episode of BW, leaving Xylvania in theory without any leadership. It is not clear what happens to Xylvania after the respective wars before the Kaiser returns to lead it to World War once again. Is it occupied by allied forces, or does it "disappear" as well, all Xylvanians hiding somewhere (maybe in underground bunkers...?)